Arrow fletcher



A. R. PORTINGA April 28, 1959 ARROW FLETCHER Filed Aug.- 8, 195a INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Fig. 5

A.R. PORTINGA' Fig. 3

United States Patent ARROW FLETCHER Alfred R. Portinga, Neenah, Wis. Application August 8, 1956, Serial No. 602,846

2 Claims. (Cl. 144-289) My invention relates to arrow fletchers and devices for fastening and aligning feathers to arrows.

An important object of the invention is to provide a novel, accurate arrow fletcher which is adjustable to accommodate the fletching of feathers upon arrows, in varying degrees of spiralling, in either a clockwise or counterclockwise rotation about an arrow shaft.

Another object of my invention is to provide an arrow fletcher with which a plurality of feathers may be aligned and adhered to the shaft of an arrow at the same time and in one simple operation.

A further object of my invention is to provide an arrow fletcher feather guides, so that feathers can, by its use, be truly spiralled upon an arrow shaft; that is flexed in both their axial and longitudinal planes.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an arrow fletcher with flexible feather guides which firmly clamp the feathers by the simple action of the feather guides, in a true spiral of two dimensions.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device for fletching arrows, which device is simple and inexpensive to construct and operate and which may be readily dismantled for cleaning.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the arrow fletcher which is my invention,

Figure 2 is a central vertical longitudinal section of the same,

Figure 3 is an end elevation showing the triangular end member containing the rotation indicator and nock holder,

Figure 4 is an end elevation showing the other triangular end member of the arrow fletcher,

Figure 5 is an end elevation of one of the feather guides,

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the outer aspect of my rotation indicator, and

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the inner surface of my rotation indicator.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, the numeral 1 designates a triangular end member. This end member has cut or otherwise removed through its thickness, a central opening or hole, in which is inserted a rotation indicator 6, which in turn has a central hole 8, to the exterior of which is attached, a mock holder 7, which bisects the hole 8. Engraved or otherwise marked upon the external surface of the rotation indicator, is an arrow 16, and marked upon the outward surface of end member 1, about but outside the rotation indicator 6, are numerals indicating degrees of rotation of the fletching mechanism. The number 9 designates a set screw threaded into a hole in end member 1 extending from 2,884,034 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 ICC the lateral surface of 1 to the circumferential surface of the rotation indicator 6.

The numeral 2 indicates the lower segment of another triangular end member having a central hole 14, and the separate upper portion or segment of said end member is designated 2a, which is hingedly attached to 2 by the hinge 15, and locked thereto by the latch 11, and which end member 22a is so constructed that a portion of the hole 14 is enclosed by 18, the lower surface of 2a when 211 is in its closed position, forming the upper circumferential surface of the hole 14.

In the preferred form of my invention, the two triangular end members 1 and 2 are joined toward the outward extremities of their bases by two removable, longitudinal connecting members 10, which latter (10) are in their preferred form dowels rigidly and snugly but demountably fitted into holes 19, through the thickness of the end members 1 and 2.

The inner surfaces of the end member 2 and of the rotation indicator 6 have rigidly attached thereto one or a plurality of feather guide receptacles 4 distributed about their inward surfaces. These feather guide receptacles are centrally grooved to removably accommodate the flexible feather guides 5 which are, in turn, centrally and longitudinally grooved. These flexible feather guides 5 are so designed as to accommodate and firmly clamp the feathers during the process of adhering the same to the shaft of the arrow, and provide for automatic alignment of said feathers upon the arrow shaft.

The operation of my arrow fietcher is as follows:

The latch 11 is moved out of locking position, that is away from the screw 12 about which it looks, and the upper portion of the end member (2a) is lifted into the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 4. The feathers are then inserted in the feather guides 5 and properly coated with adhesive. The rotation indicator is then turned in the direction and to the extent desired for spiralling of the feathers upon the shaft of the arrow. The set screw 9 is then screwed inwardly to a point where it frictionally contacts the rotation indicator 6, thereby automatically fixing the feather guide receptacles 4 and consequently the flexible feather guides 5 in the chosen position. The shaft of the arrow to be fietched is then inserted in the hole 14, and through the hole 8 in such position that the nock at the end of the arrow straddles the nook-holder 7. The upper end member 2a is then lowered into the position shown in solid lines in Figure 4 and the latch 11 is locked so as to fix the arrow, tightly enclosing it in the hole 14, in rigid, nonrotatable position. The feather guides 5 are then inserted in the feather guide receptacles 4 with their grooves extending radially. As the feather guides are inserted in the grooves of the feather guide receptacles 4, which are snugly fitted to the feather guides, the sides of the feather guides are compressed and caused to be brought toward each other, thereby tightly clamping the feathers in each of the flexible feather guides. 5.

The arrow shaft is then permitted to remain until the adhesive adhering the feathers to the shaft has had sufficient time to set, at the end of which time the end member 1 may be removed from the longitudinal brace members 10, the feather guides 5 being thereby released. The set screw may then be loosened, the rotation indicator 6 may be returned to normal position and the operation may be repeated as often as desired, and, if desired, the entire arrow fietcher may be easily and thoroughly cleaned while it is dismantled in the manner described, at the end of the arrow fletching operation.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention, herewith shown and described, is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, sizes and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. An arrow fietcher comprising two end members connected by longitudinal brace members, a plurality of feather guide receptacles disposed about the interior surface of one of the end members, said latter mentioned end member comprises two sub-members, the upper one of which is hingedly attached and lockable to the lower of said sub-members, a part of the surface of each of said sub-members forming a part of the circumference bounding a hole located in said end member, a rotatable rotation indicator inserted in the other of said end members, said rotation indicator is equipped with a central hole, in axial alignment with the hole in the first of said end members, and a mock holder, a plurality of feather guide receptacles mounted on the interior of the hinged end member on the one end of the arrow fietcher and on the interior surface of the rotation indicator, on the other end, a plurality of longitudinal feather guides extending 4 between and supported by opposing pairs of the said feather guide receptacles.

2. An arrow fletcher as described in claim 1, wherein the feather guides are flexible in their longitudinal planes and capable of being torsionally flexed about their longitudinal axes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED I STATES PATENTS 487,959 McDonald Dec. 13, 1892 937,044 Birkett Oct. 19, 1909 1,648,376 Blodgett Nov. 8, 1927 1,896,536 Belshaw Feb. 7, 1933 1,945,416 Birchall Jan. 30, 1934 2,286,574 Rohde Jan. 16, 1942 2,478,376 De Swart Aug. 9, 1949 2,592,698 Hubbard Apr. 15, 1952 2,731,992 Lozon Jan. 24, 1956 2,836,208 Hoyt May 27, 1958 

